The hidden cost of conflict on young minds

These little kids playing in the neighbourhood and the sound from stuff being unloaded at a grocery store, have become scary enough to signal their brains to rush to their homes and seek refuge as the brain perceives the fear of something terrible coming next.
Such is the initial response that spills from a child's brain to stay in a constant state of alertness and seek immediate shelter for those living in conflict areas and war zones.
When the crisis prolongs, the brain adapts to life in survival mode, with basic needs met and a diminished concept of learning, career and life goals.
No child deserves to live in crisis, yet it is the unfortunate reality of a massive chunk of kids living and coping. This is where ‘toxic stress’ stems from, acting as a precursor for various behavioural issues in childhood and other health problems later in life.
The scoping policy editorial on the PubMed Central states, “Children exposed to war and flight show a broad range of possible distress and stress reactions, namely specific fears, dependent behaviour, prolonged crying, lack of interest in the environment and psychosomatic symptoms, as well as aggressive behaviours. Children’s play can also be affected, for instance, with the emergence of morbid themes, restriction in fantasy play and social withdrawal”.
Then there are the long-term consequences, such as children losing warmth and their innate gentleness over a period. Their worldview changes entirely with the fears deeply soaking in as to when they can be displaced or separated from the rest of their family. Or if they have endured any mishap during the crisis or conflicts, the traumas can stay lifelong, generally categorised as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder).
Not only do the conflicts bring direct harm, but also the indirect harm from circulating news, visuals of war and possible speculating devastating outcomes negatively affect their brain leading to chronic anxiety and depression; and meager hopes left in life.
Imagine a child living in constant threat that he can lose his home, his friends, his neighbourhood, his school, at any instant of time and he might be left alone with no support for food or emotional security.
How horrible can his or her state of mind be? Such circumstances totally dismantle a kid’s brain development, scarring him for life.
When childhood was meant for play, laughter, learning and creating memories, these kids are rising to a new form of shock every day. Moreover, disrupted food availability leads to nutritional deficiencies at such a tender growing age. Starvation becomes prevalent when food chains are disrupted and infectious diseases escalate owing to malnutrition and immunity breakdown.
Community and healthcare malfunction, with obliterated medical care to the injured and wounded during explosions, further hampers the willpower and leaves devastating mental impressions on a growing young mind.
Whatever the reasons may be for crises, conflicts and wars, kids should never be the ones being a part of them or going through them.
All sorts of human achievements in tech, finance, agriculture, or space put together stay superficial if, as an entire human race, we fail to provide a safe growing space for our children at the core. How can we call it progress if our children continue to dwell in fear and an unending threat?
Before they could play and giggle in peace, they learned to survive the ugly side of life.
Do we glorify tech that will sustain life outside this planet someday, yet somewhere a child is terrified to death by every high-pitched sound in some very corner of this planet today because all that his childhood is left with?

Dr Nisma Haris The writer is a general physician, content creator